In the early 70s, at the Institute of Applied mathematics (IPM) of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, a six-legged walking machine controlled on a base of a mathematical model of motion control was developed. The machine motion and the terrain were rendered on a display. Motion control algorithms were developed for a walking machine on rugged terrain in both automated and operator control modes. The problems of control were also considered for a dynamic model of a statically stable walking machine (Okhotsimski & Platonov, 1973, 1976).

In this small video compilation there is a few seconds of the simulation under joystick control.

The first six-legged machine was equipped with a laser scanning range finder and is connected with a two-computer system. The walker could move around isolated obstacles which were detected remotely by a scanning distance-measuring system, and could climb over obstacles (see Fig. 2.9).
The parameters of the machine are the follows: body length 0,6 m, body width 0,25 m, weight 56 kg, length of leg 0,4 m, velocity 0,2 m/s (Okhotsimski & Platonov, 1976; Okhotsimski et al., 1978).